Uncharted 4: Empire City
by Lightning's Creed
Summary: Nathan Drake discovers that he has a younger brother living in Empire City. He travels to Empire City, not expecting what he encounters. It's a new type of adventure never experienced before. *Takes place after Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception*
1. Chapter 1 - Family Reunion

Chapter 1 - Family Reunion

*Nate P.O.V.*

Hey there. I'm Nathan Drake. You can just call me Nate for short. I'm finally home from possibly the craziest adventure I've ever been on. It all ended with Sully and I escaping from a giant sinkhole at a place called Ubar. Thought I don't like to admit it, the best part is that it all ended with Elena and I on good terms, forever this time. I think. I hope.

How long has it been since I've been in my home in sunny Florida? How long has it been since I've been in good old America? Nothing crazy seems to happen here in America. It's just the three of us now; me, Elena, and Sully. We're just hoping nothing out of the ordinary will pop up again. That we could have at least one week of peace. But knowing how our lives have been these past couple of years…

Something will definitely come up.

**~IF~UC~**

"Yeah…yeah…I'll see if I can come this weekend or something…You said it's a 3 hour flight?...That's not too bad…Alright, I'll see you soon…Bye."

Holy crap.

"Who was that Nate?" Elena walked into the living room, gave me a peck on the cheek and sat on the couch.

"Yeah who was that?" Sully walked into the room with his trademark cigar and took a seat on his, well technically my, recliner.

"You guys sitting down?"

"Hang on, let me grab a seat" Sully stated sarcastically.

"That was my little brother. His name is Kevin."

"Little brother? You have a little brother Nate?"

"Apparently so."

"You were planning on telling me, right?" Vintage Elena.

"I barely knew myself. Anyways, he wants me to meet him in Empire City and stay with him for a month."

"Empire City? Where's that?"

"Just up the coast, about a 3 hour flight."

"I used to live in Empire City for a while during its better years. From what I've heard it's not the best place to be right now."

"Yeah. And we've been in some pretty spectacular places these past couple of years right?"

"All I'm saying kid is if you're planning to go up there, be careful. Better yet, I should come up there with you." After Ubar, Sully's paternal instincts have become more prominent. It's endearing sometimes…

"Sully…"

"That's the end of it. I'm coming with you."

…but it's irritating too.

"No, Sully I think Nate needs to do this alone."

"What?"

"Nate just found out that he has a little brother. He needs to meet him and face him, alone. You've gone across the world with Nate, watching over him, mentoring him and making sure he didn't do anything stupid."

"And I've done a damn good job, haven't I?"

"But this is just a harmless family reunion, not a dangerous expedition to plunder potential treasure."

Sully sat in the recliner, chewing on his cigar, taking in what Elena told him.

"You've got a point there, sweetheart."

"Look Sully, I'll go to Empire City for a few weeks, do some brotherly bonding and I'll be home safe and sound, no problem."

I swear, one of these days, I think Sully may actually eat those cigars.

"I guess…"

"Alright then, I'll go look up the next flight from here to Empire City."

"Sit down kid; I'll take care of that for you." Sully got up from his recliner and left the room, still munching on his cigar.

I turned to look at Elena, expecting a concerned look, but I was surprised to see a content smile on her face.

What's up with her today?

"Nate, come here."

I went over to sit down, still apprehensive as to what she was going to say to me.

"I stuck up for you, not only because I wanted to meet your brother alone. Sully's been with you through thick and thin for 20 years. He may not know it, but he's developed the need to hover over you, make sure you're ok. But he needs to learn that you're a big boy now, that you can handle yourself."

Wow…

"…Even though you may not show it sometimes."

Ouch, right in the manhood.

"Plus, it would be nice to have a brother-in-law."

"Thanks Elena."

She leaned in to give me a soft kiss.

"If you two lovebirds are done serenading over there…"

Crap. Did he hear everything?

"…Nate, I booked your flight. Your flight is Friday at 2:30pm"

"Thanks Sully. I'll pay you back."

"Nah, don't worry about it kid. Now go on, start packing."

I headed upstairs to start packing

"I'll come help you Nate."

"Elena, hold up a second."

Uh-Oh

"What's up Sully?"

"I overheard your conversation with Nate... "

Uh-Oh…

"…and you're right."

What.

"I don't call him kid because I like the way it sounds. I do admit that I have become a little over-protective."

He's not kidding. Sully won't let me out of the house alone these days.

"But in that, I seem to have forgotten that he's a grown man, not the 15 year old kid I found in Cartagena 20 years ago."

"Look, I understand that you want what's best for him, but I want what's best for you too. You would go to the ends of the earth for Nate. But that doesn't mean you have to."

"Yeah, you're right."

Damn…

_***2 Days Later***_

"Nate! Your flight is in an hour and a half, you got to get there early if you want to make your flight!"

"I'll be right down!" I was doing a quick check of my room to make sure I didn't forget anything. I spotted a picture on top of the dresser…

"I should take this with me too."

"Nate! Come on." Elena walked into the room and I spun around, hiding the picture behind my back.

"What you got there?"

"Oh nothing, just some cologne…"

"You're a terrible liar, come on let me see."

She moved faster than I could react and grabbed the picture I was hiding behind my back. It was a picture from our wedding day.

"Awww! Nate!"

Goddamn it.

"It's ok; you don't have to say it. I'll miss you too." She leaned up to give me a kiss.

Why are my cheeks warm all of a sudden?

"Oh, you're blushing!"

And the last of my manhood slips away. I got to remember to hold a funeral later.

"Come on Nate, Sully's waiting outside." She tucked the picture away into my pants pocket

We headed downstairs to meet Sully, once again chomping on a cigar.

"If you get cigar ashes in my jeep, I'll never forgive you." Sully chuckled

"Well seeing as he's just munching on it like candy, I don't think you'll have anything to worry about, Elena."

"Hey Nate, you feeling alright? Your cheeks are red.

Crap.

"Must be the Florida heat; I haven't been here in so long, my body's not used to it."

"Hmm, alright then."

Thank god he didn't try to debunk that with the Rub Al Khali desert.

"Wait. Now hold on a goddamn second…"

Double crap.

"Okay! Sully, Nate has a flight to catch, let's get a move on shall we?"

Elena, I love you.

"I love you too."

"Oh, now I see why your cheeks are red."

Triple crap.

**~IF~UC~**

"Have a good flight Nate. Call us when you land okay?" Elena said as she hugged me tight.

"Will do."

Sully came up to me and gave me a pat on the back.

"Watch your back, kid. Empire City's a dangerous place."

"Have _some_ faith in me Sully."

He chuckled. _Flight 762 to Empire City now boarding._

"See you guys." And I walked off to the gate to board my flight.

_***3 hours later***_

The flight went pretty smoothly. Just a little bit of turbulence and a lady ruthlessly trying to ask me out. The landing was a little bumpy, somehow causing the lady have a panic attack, break out of her seat belt literally, jump into my lap and unceremoniously cling to me. It was then she noticed my wedding ring and she detached herself from me, muttering an "I'm sorry" and that was the end of that. The stuff that happens to me…

I turned on my blackberry and saw that my brother texted me. He told me that he would be waiting for me by the baggage claim. After retrieving my luggage and about 5 minutes of searching I spotted him. Yup, we're brothers alright.

He looked just like me: his skin was a little darker than mine; he had hazel eyes, where I had my blue; he was probably about 2-3 inches shorter than me and had a slightly smaller build; his hair was the same color as mine and the style was the same, but was just a little longer in the back.

What really through me for a loop was that we were practically wearing the same thing. He was wearing a red long-sleeved shirt where I was wearing a green one. He was wearing washed out jeans, where my jeans were dark blue. We're wearing the same color converse, but his were just a little worn out.

We stared at each other for about a minute, probably thinking the same exact thing, before we came together and hugged each other. This was my brother…my little brother. The brother I never knew I had. I held him, and didn't want to let him go. No greetings were required.

After what felt like ages, we finally released the hug. At the same time, we looked around and saw some tear-filled eyes and smiles. Oh yeah, we're at an airport.

"Kevin Drake. You can just call me Kev for short." I noticed that his voice is just slightly deeper than mine.

"Nathan Drake. Nate." We shook hands, to formalize our initial meeting.

"It's great to finally see you."

"Likewise."

If memory serves me right, I'm supposed to be doing something right now. Something very important…Oh yeah…

"Hang on; I have to make a call."

"No problem."

I took out my blackberry and went through my contacts. It didn't take long to find Elena's name. The call was picked up after the second ring.

"Nate, how was your flight?"

"It was good, no complaints" I didn't tell her about the little incident that happened on the flight.

"Good. Are you still at the airport?"

"Yeah. I, uh, met my brother."

"Really? What's he like"

"He looks just like me."

"Really? Sully and I need to see this to believe it. Can you send me picture?"

"Ah sure, I'll send you one later."

"Okay, I'll pass on the message to Sully; he's taking a nap right now."

"Okay thanks, bye. I…"

"Love you too. Bye!" We hung up simultaneously.

"Everything okay, Nate?"

"Yeah, I just had to let my wife know that I landed safely."

"You're married?"

"Yup."

"Wow. Congrats man."

"Thanks. Oh, and she wants a picture of you. She wants to see what her brother in law looks like."

"No problem, we can take care of that later. Come on let's head to my car, my house is about a half hour from here."

We headed out to the parking lot to his car. He owns a red 2009 Toyota Camry. I put my luggage in the trunk and got into the passenger seat. We fell into a comfortable silence as we cruised down the highway, the world passing us by.

**This a crossover I've been wanting to do for quite a while. Tell me what you think! :)**


	2. Chapter 2 - Breezy

**Most of you are probably curious as what kind of powers Nathan Drake will have(where this story is headed it's kind of obvious that he will have powers), and there are a few hints in this chapter. ****READ CAREFULLY! :)**

Chapter 2 - Breezy

_Ugh_…what happened?

I opened my eyes to nothing but fire and destruction. Buildings were destroyed, roads torn apart, the sky was dark red. What the hell?

When I made a move to get up, pain shot up all throughout my body. My gun wound, thanks to Harry was reopened and I was bleeding waterfalls. It made a large puddle to my side.

"That's a lot of my blood, too much of my blood." That's me Nathan Drake, giving the middle finger to death.

"I got to get up, find help, something…shit I just can't lay here and bleed to death." Of all the things I've been through, there hasn't been a larger trial than this; trying to get back on my feet.

After what seemed like forever, I was finally able to get up and fully see the carnage around me. This, whatever this is, used to be a city.

When I looked to my right I saw a large crater and in the middle of it, I was able to make out a guy lying there, unconscious. Are we the only ones here?

A hooded man in black ran to him and grabbed this spherical object from him and ran off. If it's one thing I can't stand is when innocent people get their things stolen. Ironic right?

"Hey!" I ran, well limped, towards him but it was hopeless. A limping man being able to catch a man running at whatever miles an hour hits the ear wrong.

I continued limping, following what was left of the road hoping to find someone to help me.

"Ah…shit…come on Nate, you've been through worse things than this."

Who knows how long I spent limping; seconds, minutes, hours, days, I don't know. My body finally gave in to my injuries and I just collapsed. But the strange thing is, it felt like I kind of floated down rather just fall with a sick _thump_.

I guess this is it; this is where the mighty adventures of Nathan Drake end. I closed my eyes, waiting to see this "light at the end of the tunnel". Everything was silent.

I felt a breeze glide across my face. Then I began to hear voices, after a while I was able to make out what was being said. _Nate...Nate...Nate!  
_

**~IF~UC~**

"NATE!"

"Huh? "

"Wake up man, we're here."

It was…all a dream? Everything's okay, I'm okay.

"Are you alright man? You passed out about five minutes into the drive."

"Ah…yeah I'm fine. I must have been more tired than I thought."

"Hell of a dream?"

"Yeah, but I barely remember now. It happens." I didn't want to tell him about the dream I just had. I barely understood it; I shouldn't bother him with it.

"Yeah, dreams do that. Come on, let's go to my apartment, we can get to know each other more."

We got out of the car and I finally saw the infamous Empire City. Doesn't seem as bad as people claim it to be…unless I'm dreaming again and it's actually hell on earth.

I went to the trunk to get my luggage, and in the distance we heard several gunshots.

"What's going on over there?"

"Don't worry; Empire City is just greeting its visitor."

**~IF~UC~**

We reached Kevin's apartment and we walked in. Man this gives "Don't judge a book by its cover" a whole new meaning. On the inside it was an old, grey, worn down building. But inside, inside this apartment was a completely different story. A flat screen television, complete with a gaming system, all sorts of décor on the wall, a gorgeous living room set, and a large kitchen. Man this guy has it all!

"While standing there with your jaw on the ground, I'll move your stuff into the guest room. Make yourself at home."

I all but threw myself at his sofa. Man this is a comfortable sofa.

"Don't get too intimate with my sofa please. You want anything?"

"Just water thanks, this apartment is _amazing_!"

"Thanks man, I spent about 5 years refurnishing it. I made a deal with the landlord to take the apartment next door and combine it with mine. No one wanted to inhabit the apartment next door so he let me do this no problem. I have to pay double the rent, but no matter."

"How did you do _all _this?"

"It wasn't completely a solo job. I had some help from a couple friends. Funny thing is that the hardest thing about this whole project was breaking down the wall between mine and other without causing too much damage. We miraculously managed to pull it off."

"How did you get all of this? This must have cost a fortune!" He handed me my water. Even the water was the best thing I've ever tasted.

"I've been saving it up. I got a really good job as an architect. It really pays the big bucks."

"Nice."

"So what have you been up to these past couple of years?"

"I studied Latin and archaeology for the first part of my life. I really got into the voyages of Sir Francis Drake. I spent the rest of my life traveling the world plundering treasures."

"That's really cool! You must have gotten into some crazy adventures."

"You don't know the half of it."

Kevin insisted on telling him of all the adventures I've been through. He wanted to know everything down to the last detail. I had no choice but to tell him…everything.

"Wow, and you say I have the extravagant life."

"I wouldn't classify this as the extravagant life."

"Come on bro, it must have been awesome to travel the world, seeing new things, plundering treasure, popping a cap in someone's head once in a while, cheating death. Now that's the life. What do you do now?"

"I settled down in Key West, Florida with Victor Sullivan and my wife Elena."

"You're married?"

"Yeah, we've had some rocky times, but we've reconciled and everything's good now. She's joined me in a few of my adventures." Much to my dislike.

"Do you have picture?"

"Yeah." I took out my phone and pulled up a picture of her, Sully, and I at the beach in Florida. "That's her on the left."

"She's pretty, nice job man."

"You with anyone?"

"I just got out of a nasty relationship, not looking for one right now, but if one comes up, I won't hesitate."

I looked over at the clock and realized that we've been talking for four hours. It was about a quarter past eleven.

"Wow, we've been talking for hours."

"Well would you look at that. Let's check in, we can talk more tomorrow"

"Ah, you go on. I'm going to take a walk around the block." I've always had problems sleeping. Walking around always seemed to calm me down enough to sleep properly. Besides, after that dream, I don't think I'm ready to fall asleep just yet.

"Alright, call me if you get lost."

"Have some faith in me."

"G'night!"

I grabbed my jacket and left the apartment, remembering to keep it unlocked. I exited the building and breathed in the murky air that was Empire City. It's a breezy night tonight.

**Kind of a short and sweet chapter. A little boring XD. I hope you guys were able to pick up the hints I dropped in this chapter. I will also take any ideas/suggestions you have about what Nathan Drake's powers and abilities could be. **


	3. Chapter 3 - Underwater Dreams

Chapter 3: Underwater Dreams

The sun was pelting my face through my room's open window, as if it was saying "Nathan Drake, get your ass out of bed!"

Yup Mother Nature loves me.

I wake up and swung my feet over to the bottom of my bed and met with a somewhat uncomfortable sensation.

The floor is wet…and I'm wearing socks.

I guess my brother's refurbishing skills aren't as great as he says they are. A pipe must have busted somewhere.

Well I shouldn't let some wet socks prevent me from starting another glorious day right? Besides, I've been through worse.

I got out of bed and made my way to the bathroom. I didn't pick up the presence of my brother so I assumed he went out to get breakfast or something.

Is this water rising or is it just me?

I took a quick shower, brushed my teeth and changed into a t-shirt, cargo shorts and ditched my wet socks to let my feet soak up some more of the water.

Not knowing what else to do I decided to text Elena and see she and Sully are doing. I picked up my blackberry and plopped down on my brother's legendary sofa.

If I could inconspicuously sneak this sofa out I would do it.

When I turned on my phone, it suddenly short circuited and died.

"Ah crap."

After toying around with my phone I felt another strange sensation, but this time near the nether regions.

No, not that feeling.

When I looked down I noticed that my shorts were completely submerged under the water and the water was now up to my waist.

"What the hell?" I think I'm losing it.

I made my move to get up and I tripped on a raised part of a rug and unwillingly belly flopped into the rising water. I was completely submerged, but the odd thing is that this felt…natural.

Not because I escaped from a sinking cruise ship a while back and had to face the almighty power of water, it's just that it actually felt good to be in the water, for once. I didn't panic at all and didn't find it necessary to suddenly scramble to get to the surface for oxygen As if there would be one; the water is most likely good friends with the ceiling by now.

I felt like I could stay here forever…until I'm impaled by those ice spikes that are right below me…that I'm now quickly falling towards.

"Oh, no- no- no- no!"

**~IF~UC~**

"AH!" I woke with a start. I was in my bed and drenched in my own sweat. I quickly looked over by bed and there was no water in sight. Another dream?

Brain, is sleeping suddenly a sin now because you're giving me a whole lot of reasons to not do it.

I looked at the time and saw that it just a little past 8 a.m. Might was well get out of bed. I walked out of the guest bedroom and into the bathroom. I took a quick shower, brushed my teeth and changed into a t-shirt and jeans.

I exited the bathroom and saw my brother in the kitchen making breakfast. He didn't register I was there until he turned around and saw me, nearly dropping his plate of bacon and eggs.

"Shit, bro! When did you get back? I went into your room at around 2am and I didn't see you. I thought you got lost or something happened to you. I was about to go out and search for you." And you wait until _NOW _to start searching for me?

But wait, he poses a pretty good question. What time did I get back last night?

"I admit it, I got a little lost, but after asking around, I was able to find my way back here. I got home at around 3am." I lied.

"Well okay, anyway let me get you some breakfast. What would you like to drink?"

"Water please, thanks."

**~IF~UC~**

"So what are we going to do today?"

"I was going to give you a tour of all districts, but all the bridges are down today. So we'll go climbing and I'll just give you a small tour of the Neon."

Climbing? "There are districts here?"

"Yeah, three total; there's the Neon, the one we're in right now, the Warren, and the Historic."

"Alright, but ah climbing?"

"You don't have a problem with that do you? Based on what you've told me about your life, you seem like the kind of guy that would be pumped to go climbing."

"Yeah, yeah it's no problem."

"Alright cool, I'll let you borrow my gloves and you may want to change into something darker."

"Why?"

"I like to go climbing on days like this: dark, cloudy, raining. This weather makes us less noticeable, especially if we wear darker clothing."

"How did you get into climbing?"

"Well for one, like most teenagers, I got involved with some unsavory characters. I had to get creative when booking it from the cops. And while refurbishing this place, I had to re-route some electricity which called for me to go on the roof a lot. "

Unsavory characters, eh? "Why couldn't you use the elevator?"

"Elevator's been busted for years and they never bothered to fix it." With us Drakes, nothing can ever be simple in life.

"Alright go get changed, meet me in the back of building."

**~IF~UC~**

I changed into a dark grey hooded sweater, black jeans, black Nike sneakers, and put on the fingerless gloves Kevin lent me. I met Kevin in the back of the building in the parking lot tossing some pebbles into the distance.

"Alright man, my climbing buddy is unfortunately stuck in the Warren so he won't join us today."

"Not a problem."

"Alright then. You ready?"

"Yeah."

Kevin took off and ran up a building. He climbed up the building with ease. He's clearly done this before.

"Come on bro!"

I spotted a fire escape that would lead me at least halfway up the building. Afterwards I grabbed onto a pole and then eventually a window still. Kevin lent me his hand to pull me up the rest of the way.

"I got to teach you some climbing techniques, but that's for another day. Come on."

He ran off and jumped onto the next building and I followed.

**~IF~UC~**

"And the last spot of our little tour, Archer Square." Kevin sat perched very close to the edge of the rooftop, silently signaling me to do the same. With all the climbing that I do, you'd think I'd be really comfortable with sitting at the edge of a high rooftop without a care in the world.

I wasn't, but he doesn't need to know that.

I approached the edge of the rooftop and sat down on the edge, letting my feet dangle.

"Archer Square", he began "Is the main meeting spot of the Neon. As you can see there are a number of office buildings, stores and even a museum."

Why this place gets such a bad reputation I don't really see that much. The Neon is stunning. This must be the entertainment center of Empire City. Bright neon lights everywhere, billboards advertising their businesses, giant televisions, how did I miss this last night? I know I can be a little daft but I didn't think it was to the extent that I couldn't notice a colossal neon light in front of me.

We remained there in a comfortable silence admiring the view. We completely forgot the fact that there were people below us, who were probably scared shitless.

"HEY!"

We looked down and saw the police.

"GET DOWN FROM THERE!"

"Oh shit man, we got to bounce. I can't afford another strike. My building is across from here. Let's go."

"We immediately got up from where we were. Time to do one of my favorite pastimes: running away.

"Time for a little preview, follow my lead."

He jumped off the high rooftop, landed on a dumpster, jumped off and ran off. I mirrored his movements and tailed behind him.

**~IF~UC~**

We finally made it to Kevin's building, wisely entering through back entrance to get to his apartment.

"Change your clothes fast!"

"What? Why?"

"Whenever there's an incident of someone being found on a rooftop, they always come check on me to see if I have an alibi."

"Why?"

"Believe it or not, in the city, climbing buildings is forbidden. It alerts civilians and puts them in a panic, public endangerment, ah it's whole bunch of crap. Now go change!"

Without further questions, I went into my guest room and changed into shorts and a tank top. Uncertain whether or not I should stay in my room or not, I stayed in my room just to be safe. I picked up my phone and sent a text to Elena to see how she and Sully were doing. I heard the doorbell ring.

It's the moment of truth.

**Kevin P.O.V **

"Afternoon, officers. What can I do for you?"

"We caught sight of two civilians hanging off the edge of a rooftop across Archer Square. One of them didn't happen to be you now Mr. Drake?"

"No officers, I've been here all morning just hanging out with my brother. We haven't seen each other since we were in the crib together, so we're catching up."

"Where is your brother, Mr. Drake?"

"He's in the guest room, let me get him. Nate?"

**Nate P.O.V**

I was sending Elena another text, this one being a picture of Kevin and me together to show our similarity to each other, when I heard Kevin call me.

I walked out of the guest room, clutching my phone. When arrived in the living room, I was met with two police officers. Kevin shot me a glance that said "Stay cool"

"Hello." I said sounding as casual as possible

"You his brother?" one of the police officers asked.

Hmm let's see, we look very much alike, we're practically dressed exactly same, what do you think?

I stifled that wise-ass remark and simply replied, "Yes, I'm his older brother, Nathan Drake."

"Now, _you _didn't happen to be on top of a rooftop in Archer Square recently, have you?"

"No, I've been here all day, bonding with my brother; I haven't seen him in a long time, so we have some catching up to do." Insert sad violin and dramatic tear for effect.

"You from around here?" one of them asked.

If I lived around here, why would I be saying I haven't seen my brother in forever and a half?

Swallow the sarcasm Nate.

"No, I'm from Key West, Florida."

"Huh, I had a buddy that lived down there. I wonder how he's doing."

"Really what's his name?"

"Good old Victor Sullivan."

My heart skipped about three beats.

"Really?" I replied trying to mask my nervousness. "Sullivan and I actually good friends, he lives with my wife and I right now."

"How nice, well next time you see him, tell him Rick says hello."

"Will do."

"Alright, you kids stay out of trouble, especially you Kevin. Enjoy the rest of your day." The police officers left and Kevin shut the door behind them, locking the door. There was a ten second silence between us before we both burst out laughing.

"Nate, you should have seen your face when he said Victor was a buddy of his. You looked like you crapped your pants on the spot."

"It's a small world I suppose. And why does he call us kids?"

"You're 32*, I'm 29, and they're 46. Being a couple years older apparently gives you the right to call anyone younger than you 'kid'. That's the case in this city."

"Sully calls me kid all the time, but I think that's because he sees me as one of his own. I guess he does it out of paternal instinct."

"Well I don't consider those guys father figures. Anyways, how about we have a movie marathon for the rest of the day? I'll order lunch."

"Okay, sounds good."

We opened up Netflix and decided to make it an Action/Adventure-Movie Marathon. The first move we're watching is Premium Rush**. Lunch arrived about 10 minutes into the movie.

The rain picked up once again outside, making me feel strangely calmer that I've ever been in my life.

Or maybe's it's just the sofa.

***=I'm not entirely sure about Nate's age. When I looked it up, I got a variety of ages. But all them were somewhere in the range of early thirties. 32 is a good enough number.**

****=When I first saw the trailer for Premium Rush, I thought it was a trailer for inFAMOUS.**

******Sweet Jesus, this ridiculously long XD Another hint was dropped into this chapter. Hope you like! Tell me what you think! Feedback is greatly appreciated!**


	4. Chapter 4 - All Great Tours

Chapter 4: All Great Tours End with a BANG!

I woke up in a puddle of my own drool on my brother's sofa. I was completely on the sofa and saw my younger brother fast asleep on the floor. Oops. I know I may kick and punch in my sleep (just ask Elena) but I didn't think it was this bad. I swung my feet over to the floor and put my arms up to stretch. I looked at the clock and it read 4:26 A.M. I looked out the window and saw that the skies were red.

Wait, red? It's way too early for the sun to be coming up right now.

I quickly got up to further inspect the skies. The skies were definitely red, but the sun seemed to be nowhere in sight. Odd.

I opened up the window and my jaw nearly dropped. This city was destroyed. Whatever the hell happened here, it was BAD. Buildings were toppled over and in shambles, the road was cracked and covered with flames and lava, and there were bodies everywhere. Where have I seen this before…?

I closed the window quickly and went over to my fast asleep brother.

"Kevin…Kevin! Wake up! Something bad happened to Empire City. Wake up, you need to see this!" He didn't budge. Though us Drakes are notorious for being heavy sleepers. Figuring that there was nothing else to do (going outside was out of the question) I made a quick trip to the kitchen to get a glass of water and go back to sleep on my brother's comfy sofa.

I still need to come up with a plan to steal this thing.

Halfway on the trip to the comfy sofa, there was a knock on the door.

"Who the hell could be here at this hour?" I walked over to the door, unlocked, and opened it.

I was face to face with an old man with blue glowing eyes, who was wearing a white trench coat, and had metal attachments on his chest and right arm.

"What the…"

He said nothing and leapt towards me, faster than I could react. He grabbed my head his icy fingers digging into my skull. I was just looking up at the ceiling waiting for my fate. Then my vision became obstructed with flashing images. I saw blue eyes, multiple streams of water, ice being rained down…then I saw nothing but red clouds. I saw a silver spherical object in the middle of the red clouds. Everything ended with an explosion.

He let me go as my vision returned to normal. In my woozy state I fell to the ground clutching my head. A violent headache was threatening to tear my head apart. My eyes opened and saw the mysterious man still standing over me.

"Wh-wh-o are y-you?" My brain struggled to form that simple question due to its discombobulated state.

Once again he said nothing. He simply raised his foot and slammed it into my face. Everything went dark.

**~IF~UC~**

I opened my eyes slowly and found myself lying on my stomach on my brother's sofa. When I looked down I didn't see my brother. I checked the clock and it read 11:23 A.M. How long has it been since I've actually "slept in"?

The sun shone brightly in the living room as if it was trying to make its presence specifically in that room. Show off.

I sat up and briefly rubbed my eyes before getting up. When I got up I immediately fell back onto the sofa.

I love you too sofa.

"Oh man…" the headache that I had in that dream seemed to have carried on into the real world. I tried rubbing my head to somewhat soothe it.

"Good morning bro." I looked up and saw Kevin with a towel on his head, trying to dry his hair. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, just a headache."

"Hang on; I've got some really strong painkillers in the kitchen." He made a beeline for the kitchen. A few seconds later he returned with a tall glass of water and two pills. My headache seemed to have receded a bit when I noticed the water.

I took the pills and swallowed them down with the water in record time.

"You want more water? You look really thirsty, you look kind of pale. You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah…more water would be nice, please."

Kevin went back to the kitchen and came back with a slightly larger glass of water. I drank it down quickly. My headache began clearing up and I felt better.

"I'm better now thanks."

"Your color seems to be coming back; you must have been slightly dehydrated."

"Thanks Kevin."

"No problem, now the pills are going to kick in a few more minutes and when they do, it's going to knock you out for a couple of hours. Before you nod off, let's get you some food."

Kevin went back to the kitchen and popped some waffles into a toaster. After a few minutes, the waffles popped out and Kevin took them out and placed them on a plate.

"You like syrup right?" he screamed over his shoulder.

"Yes, please." I responded back.

"Do you want more water?"

"Sure it won't hurt."

Kevin came back with a tray with the plate of waffles, some strawberries and a normal sized glass of water.

"Alright eat up. I have to run out and meet up with a friend. I'll be gone for a while. When I come back, and if you're awake, I'll give you the remainder of the tour of Empire City."

"Okay." I said with a mouth full of food.

"If you wake up and I'm not back yet, help yourself to anything here."

"Thanks."

"I'll be back later." Kevin walked out the door leaving me to enjoy the waffles and strawberries.

After a while, I finished my delicious waffles and guzzled down my water in record time. Being a good house guest, I went to the kitchen and rinsed the dishes and put them in their respective spots. I started to feel drowsy, the pills finally kicking. I began to contemplate whether to go to my room or back to the sofa.

Hmmm. Average bed or the sofa made by the gods?

Easy choice.

I walked over the sofa and let my body fall onto it. I fell asleep instantly.

**~IF~UC~**

5:17 P.M.

I woke up, sans strange dream, feeling rejuvenated. It's not every day I get to take mid-morning naps. I got up and lifted my arms to the ceiling and stretched. What's that smell? Oh…

I got up off the sofa, went to my room and got a change of clothes, and headed to the bathroom for a shower.

I stepped out of the shower, dried myself and put on my change of clothes. I'm wearing a black tank top with green cargo shorts. I headed back to the living and noticed that Kevin still isn't home yet. I decided to do a little snooping and head to my brother's room. He had posters all over his room, including a map of what looked to be Empire City. I also saw his Masters Degree in Architecture and his Bachelor's Degree in Graphic Design. Smart guy.

I noticed some pictures on top of his dresser. There was a picture of three people, most likely in their teenage years; there was Kevin in the center, a slightly overweight man wearing sunglasses to his right, and a slightly bald man who wore a black and yellow jacket and black cargo pants to his right. They were all in front of a building, probably their high school.

I smiled and put down the picture. I looked over at his desk and it was riddled with drawings. Some of them were architectural blueprints and some of them were other random designs, but still no less impressive. When looking through his designs, there was one drawing that caught my eye in particular. It was a face portrait of me and him. We really _do _look similar.

I decided to end my snooping and exited his room. I went back to the living room and decided to watch some T.V. My phone went off and saw a text from Elena

_**How R U? Sully says hi.**_

I responded: _**Everything is OK. Watching T.V., waiting for Kevin to come back. He's taking me on a tour of Empire City later. Tell Sully I say hi back.**_

Kevin walked in at about 6:07 P.M.

"Hey man, sorry I was gone so long. I brought some dinner." He held up a bag that had Chinese food.

"It's okay; I've been asleep most of the day anyway. I've only been up for about an hour anyway."

"What do you say, after dinner I take you on that tour? The bridges are working today so we can drive instead of climbing."

"Sounds good to me."

We finished our dinner and Kevin grabbed his car keys.

"It's a little chilly outside, so you might want to dress a little warmer."

A Mother Hen little brother. Oh hardy-har-har.

I went to the guest room and changed into blue jeans and put on a jacket and sneakers.

"Alright man let's go."

**~IF~UC~**

We stepped out and were met with a cool breeze. I was cold but it felt nice. We walked over to Kevin's car and got in. Kevin started the car and we were on our way.

"Okay, first up, The Warren." He announced.

It was a pretty short drive to The Warren.

This place looks like it's seen better days. Buildings were on the verge of collapsing, being barely held by wood. People littered the streets, struggling to find heat or food. This is place dull and gray. How could we go from alive and colorful to dead and bland?

Kevin explained that this is the poorest and more miserable part of Empire City. No kidding. This place is dangerous as dangerous can be. There were shootings & robberies practically every day. The worst part is that the police have pretty much given up on this place so they just let it be. That's not right. These people need someone to look out for them.

But despite the bad sides, this place has its useful sides too. The Warren serves as the shipping center for Empire city. It contains a large shipping yard and a lot more docks than the other districts. So if people come here by sea, they would most likely arrive in The Warren. Kevin also showed me the major "hot spots" of the Warren; the prison and the hospital which were the largest I've ever seen.

"Okay, that's enough of this place. To the Historic District."

After another short drive, we arrived in the Historic District.

The Historic District is a pretty mellow place. Everyone here seemed to be content with living here. This placed looked like it would be for the kind of person who likes the quiet life or someone who has just retired. There's a nice big park here too.

"Okay before we go home, I have to show you the Staton Building. It's _insanely_ tall. It's possibly the tallest in this entire city." Kevin exclaimed excitedly.

"I'm going to take a wild guess and say you climbed it?"

"Hell yeah. The view is awesome from up there. Before you leave, you and I have to climb it together."

Nothing like brotherly bonding like climbing a building so high, that you'll effectively become paste if you fall.

We stopped at a red light, getting ready to turn, when a guy on his bike cut Kevin off.

Kevin honked his horn and yelled "Crazy asshole!"

Kevin made his left turn and kept on driving. "We're almost there, it's straight ahead."

We arrived, exited the car, and walked over to the tall building. What Kevin said about this building was an understatement. I think this building goes up to the moon! And he climbed it!

"Wow." was the only thing I could muster after staring at this monster of a building.

I looked over to the left and noticed man on his phone. He looks familiar.

"Hey, isn't that the guy who cut you off earlier?"

Kevin looked over to where I was looking. "Yeah, that's him! Go wait in the car; I'm going to go give him a piece of my mind." Kevin stormed off.

I smiled and shook my head and walked back to the car. I pulled out my phone to see if I had any messages. Right before I was going to respond to one, my phone shut off. The entire city went dark too. It was ominously silent.

Then a powerful explosion went off not too far behind me. I saw a blue blast forming behind me and saw Kevin get swallowed up in the blast. Now the blast was expanding...and heading towards me.

"Oh shit."

I ran to the car, maybe I could drive away from this catastrophe. But halfway, a pang of dizziness hit me like a ton of bricks and I fell to my knees. My vision was blurring; focusing and unfocusing itself. I couldn't see how many fingers I had on my own hands. My headache came back ten-fold.

"Arrgh…damn it." My entire body was paralyzed.

I heard one more explosion and felt myself get launched into the air due to the strength of the shock wave.

I got slammed hard into the car with a brutal intensity and was dragged along as the car also became airborne. My life is just a marvel isn't it?

The car and I became good friends with a nearby wall.

Maybe death finally wins this time.

**The Ray Sphere Explosion!^_^**

**Leave me your thoughts =)**


	5. Chapter 5 - Death's Losses & Retaliation

**918 views; 7 reviews(and all are positive!); 2 favorites; and 3 alerts. I did not see this coming. You guys rock! This means so much to me. Thank you all for the support! Stay awesome! =)**

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Chapter 5: Death's Losses and Retaliations.

I'm dead. I'm so dead right now. Death has finally won after all these years. It was a well fought battle. I guess no one can really defeat death. Not even me.

So in come the ringing bells, the singing angels, and the bright white light at the end of the tunnel. All arrive to finally induct me into heaven. Or condemn me to hell. I don't know.

Everything is dark and quiet. Maybe the journey to the next world is a lot quieter than it actually is. Leave it to the media to over exaggerate everything. Wait, what's that sound?

_Thump…thump…_

It's very faint but can still be heard.

_Thump…thump…_

It has a certain rhythm to it.

_Thump…_

The familiarity is cunning.

Holy crap.

"_What's this? Another one? Let's see; Pulse is 35, respiration 15. Hmm, not too bad Mr. Drake. We'll just have to wait and see how you'll turn out. Very interesting indeed…"_

What's going on here…?

I slowly opened my eyes and through my blurred vision I saw a figure in white standing in front of me. When I blinked in my attempt to clear up my vision, the figure was gone. I kept blinking until my vision was perfect. But when my eyesight was brought back to normal, I had a feeling my vision was far from perfect.

The skies were red and the white puffy clouds looked like smoke against it. Everything was in shambles; roads were destroyed, cars flipped over and rendered useless, fire and lava everywhere…corpses littered this place.

So one of three things is possible here; I'm either in hell, our vision of heaven was completely off, of I'm still alive.

When my sense of touch had been reactivated I felt a metal object pressed against me as if it were desperately trying to merge with my body.

A flashback of me slamming into the car, preceded by said car slamming into the building flashed in my head.

I made a move to detach myself from the overly attached car and body hollered out in protest. Waves of pain shot up and down my body. Well there's one thing I can definitely confirm.

I'm still alive.

That's another round won in the epic battle between me and death. Your move death.

I tried to pry myself from the car again, ignoring the cries of pain from my body. I was successful this time around but at what cost?

I rolled over onto my back, heavily fatigued and deeply confused. What the hell happened here? I know there was an explosion, but it couldn't possible have caused _this _much damage. My mind just couldn't wrap itself around this concept. It could be because it's distracted by the monstrous headache fixing to tear my head in half.

I forced myself to sit up right again so that I could get a better look at myself. My shirt was torn in several places as were my pants. I had large cuts and gashed everywhere; on my legs, my arms, there were most likely some on my face as well. I also realized that my right hand was very dry, yet very moist. My right hand was firmly placed on my abdomen. I removed my hand and the area immediately began to spew blood. The gun wound I had received, thanks to Harry, had reopened and was now gushing out blood like there was no tomorrow. At this rate there won't be a tomorrow.

That's it, I need to find help. I'm going to die if I just lie here.

Huh…well played death. I see you still have some tricks up your sleeve.

Something that I've always been able to do no matter what the situation was now the biggest challenge I've ever faced; getting back up on my feet.

After many rounds of trial and error, I managed to stand up and get up on my feet. I had a very wobbly stance and would probably fall over if there was a gust of wind strong enough. Now for the next challenge, walking.

**~IF~UC~**

I don't know how far I've been walking. Hell, I don't even know how long I've been walking. It could have been minutes, hours, days, months, years, I don't even know. I've been walking so slowly, but who knows; I could be walking at normal speed, maybe faster. I could have died back there so now my soul has decided to keep going. For once, I. Don't. Know.

There wasn't any indication of life anywhere. All I've seen so far are the lives that used to be.

If possible my headache got even worse and I fell to my knees clutching my head in agony. The voices of the dying were going off in my head. There were screams of pain, sadness, agony, death. I too let out a scream of my own to the sky. What type of scream you ask? I don't know.

The screaming ceased. My headache decreased in intensity. I rose back to my feet and kept walking, hoping I could find someone who could help me. Someone who could save me…

**~IF~UC~**

Please, please, let me find someone, someone who can help me here. My body has been working on emergency energy and it's running on "E" right now. I know I'm Nathan Drake, I have no limits and I'm not supposed to. But I'm human like everyone else and I do have limitations. I realize that now. So please, whoever is listening right now, please help me here. I just can't…

"Sir?"

Oh thank god.

I looked and found a woman, thank goodness a nurse, running towards me.

"Oh my gosh sir, are you alright?" She asked as examined me.

Do I look like I'm alright woman?!

"Yea…no." I replied weakly. My voice was raspy, my throat is dry.

"Come on; let's get you to my car." She took one of arms and flung it over her shoulder and wrapped her other arm around my waist to provide me with extra support. We walked over to her car, which turned out to be an ambulance. She helped me into the back of the ambulance and noticed the hole in my abdomen. She grabbed some gauze and pressed it firmly against my wound. I stifled a scream of pain but she could see the pain expressed in my eyes.

"Hold that firmly against your wound. I'll be right back; I need to go find someone. Just hang in there alright?" She instructed me.

"Okay."

"Here," She grabbed a water bottle and opened it for me. "drink this, you're severely dehydrated."

She made her way out of the ambulance and ran off yelling "I'll be right back!" over her shoulder.

I drank the water bottle with vigor and unceremoniously tossed it out of the ambulance. I helped a little but not by much. It'll have to do for now. Now I have to sit back and wait.

A wave of nausea hit me. I quickly moved to the edge of the ambulance, so I wouldn't throw up in her truck. Because that would be rude, very rude.

In the distance I heard thunder. Oh that's great, that's just what this place needs. A storm. The wave of nausea was now accompanied by dizziness and I felt like I would pass out any moment now. Maybe I just need to rest…

I heard another rumble of thunder but this time it was a lot louder and a lot closer. There were soon several rumbles of thunder one after the other. I peeked outside the ambulance to get a better idea of what was going on. I regret that decision.

I saw what looked to be the storm from hell. Large lightning bolts were raining down from the sky, obliterating everything in its path. I don't know why but I felt very, very uneasy. With each lightning strike the feeling of uneasiness grew. I started hyperventilating, I felt very anxious and nervous. For some reason my body flipped on the switch for survival mode and was yelling at me to run. My instincts were on high telling me run far, far away from this. There's something my instincts know that I don't know. Is that even possible?

My hyperventilation got even worse and I was pretty sure I was having a panic attack. I was breathing so fast, my body couldn't keep up, especially in its poor state. I began grabbed at my neck, my chest, my face, my abdomen, god I must look like a lunatic.

So many things were going on at once. Believe or not, I'm not one to get overwhelmed that often. There's a first time for everything.

The lightning storm continued and I lost the battle with my nausea. I leaned over the side of the ambulance and threw up whatever the hell my body wanted to get rid of at the time.

After about a minute my body finally ceased its dumping of the unwanted contents. I was like someone lit a match and threw it in my throat, leaving it there to burn. My throat was on fire. I immediately looked around the ambulance for another bottle of water. Luckily there was still one more laying around. I opened it and immediately began chugging it down. But there was one problem. My throat had closed up; I couldn't swallow. I leaned over the ambulance and spit out the water. It was then I noticed what I had thrown up.

My blood.

I sat there in shock. That's my blood. That's _a lot _of my blood.

My eyes rolled into the back of my head and I passed out.

_Cole!_

That was the last thing I heard before I surrendered to the darkness. Everything is silent.

…Well played death.

**So so so so sorry for lack of updates! I'm so sorry. School is so annoying :l I wish school could end now so I could work on my stories more. And it's NOW my pre-calculus teacher wants to bombard us with work :L Yay...**

**As you can see, we are now at the starting point of inFAMOUS. So things will start picking up now! =D**

**There's a reason why Nate is freaking out...**

**Leave me your thoughts =)**


	6. Chapter 6 - Still Alive and Kicking

**My goodness this story has blown up quite a bit since the last time I updated!(five favorites, six alerts, and over a thousand views!) Thank you guys so much. Stay awesome! =)**

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Chapter 6 – Still Alive and Kicking

Water…so much water. Puddles…rivers…oceans everywhere. Falling rain…snow…ice…

Glowing…shiny…silver…object…blue light…the light's so bright…

Eyes…staring at me…no…go away…what do you want…what do you want?!

"Ah!" I awoke with a start in a hospital room. The windows were boarded up with wood but some light managed to slip through and illuminate the room a little.

"How did I get here? When did I…" The last thing I remember was sitting in an ambulance, crapping my pants for no apparent reason, throwing up almost a gallon of my blood, and then passing out.

Sounds like a wild night to me.

I looked down at my arm and saw an IV needle punctured deep into my skin. The IV needle was attached to a small, fairly full bag. The IV needle was steadily pumping pain killers into me, but I noticed that I was on a fairly low dose. These painkillers must be either really good or my injuries weren't as bad as I thought they were.

Impossible.

I distinctly remember feeling my gun wound re-opening and spewing out blood like no tomorrow. I sat up and propped myself against the bed's headboard. I lifted up my stained shirt (thank god they didn't change me into one of those hospital gowns) to examine my gun wound.

The gun wound wasn't only patched up…it was completely gone. There were no scars, staples, nothing. It's like I was never even shot in to begin with.

This hospital is phenomenal at what they do.

"Nate?" I looked over at the door and saw Kevin standing there. Completely unscathed.

"What the hell?" I questioned. Kevin didn't have a single scratch on him. No bandages, no look of pain, no bruises, not even a limp.

This hospital must be pumping more than just pain killers into me.

"Great to see you too bro." Kevin said sarcastically as he walked over to me, sitting on the edge of the bed. "How are you?"

"I'm okay, no complaints so far. Um how are you? I was pretty sure you were…"

"Dead?"

"Yeah."

"I thought so too. I remember being swallowed in the blast and feeling this surge go up my body. My body got really heavy and I just fell to the ground. Lost consciousness a few seconds later. Next thing you know, I wake up in a hospital bed. No injuries present whatsoever. There wasn't even an IV needle in me. They just put me on the bed and let me sleep it off I guess."

"Damn. I'm telling you, we Drakes get into some pretty crazy situations."

"You don't need to tell me twice. By the way, I ran into a nurse here and she said we're free to stay as long as we like or leave whenever we like. But she did recommend that we stay here."

"Why?"

"Well I should tell you we've been here for about two weeks. I've been up and about since last week."

I knew there was a catch to this "speedy miraculous recovery".

"Empire City has gone to shit. This city is highly quarantined. A plague has risen and it's infecting and killing almost everyone. Gangs have risen all over this city. This city belongs to them now. The police are all but gone from this city so we have to fend for ourselves now."

"Crap."

"I was hoping to find out a way to get you out of here and get you home, but the people here have told me that there are hundreds of patrols surrounding the city. There's no way of getting around them."

"So we're stuck here?"

"Unfortunately."

"Crap, if Elena and Sully hear about this, they're going to want to come here."

"They won't even get close to here; patrols reach out as far as 20 miles. And they have "shoot on sight" orders for any seen unauthorized personnel."

"Crap."

"Crap indeed bro, crap indeed."

Life is just grand isn't it?

"So can we do?"

"There's not much, we can either chill out safely in here or we try to brave the outside world."

Now there's a tough choice.

"I guess we could stay here a while longer, just until we can figure out something we can do."

"Alright cool, I was kind of hoping you would say that."

"Why's that? I thought you were _fearless_."

"Well I am, but we're in the Warren right now. Word is that the most dangerous part of Empire City, the Warren, has actually gotten even worse. That's enough to make any tough guy shake in his boots."

"How dangerous is it?"

"In the week I've been up and about, I've counted fifty-nine gunshot victims admitted here."

"Wow…" Fifty-nine gunshot victims in a single week? Okay, I've seen and heard of freaky stuff in my life, but this definitely makes the top ten.

"Hey Nate, you sure you're okay? Your eyes kind of drifted over."

They did?

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine."

"Hang on, let me fetch you something to drink. You have been out for a while; I would be surprised if you weren't dehydrated in the slightest." Kevin got up and left the room to fetch me a beverage.

Now that he mentions it, my vision does seem a little shaky…

Kevin came back as quickly as he left with a bottle of water in his hand. I felt myself beaming once I spotted the bottle. I had to restrain myself from proclaiming "Gimme! Gimme!" like an impatient child.

He handed the bottle of water over to me. I wasted no time in opening the bottle and drank it down in almost record time. Much better.

"If you need more, I can get more. There's a cooler down the hall full of them."

A cooler full you say? Hmm…

"No, I think I'm good for now. Thanks."

"No problem. You feel like getting up and walking around a bit?"

"Yeah I think I can manage that."

Kevin walked over to me and helped me get the IV needle out of my arm. It was a little painful getting the needle out but we still managed to get it out. Kevin provided support as I got out of bed. Man it feels so good to be on my feet.

We walked up and down the hallways seeing the different victims admitted. Most were here because they had severe bullet wounds, some because they were sick from the plague, and some were here just to get off the streets.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" we heard from down the hall.

There was a strong blue light emanating from the room.

"Whoa, what's going on over there?" Kevin asked. He began to walk towards the illuminated room.

I had a very bad feeling in the pit of my gut. I quickly grabbed his arm, stopping him. "Maybe we shouldn't, it isn't any of our business."

"Oh come on, this looks cool." He began to move dragging me along with him.

When did he get this strong?

We reached the room and crouched to the side, peering in slightly.

There was a man on a bed with electricity surging from his hand.

"Shit! How do I stop this?!" he screamed out.

"You better figure out a way fast!" A man in glasses screamed.

The feeling in the pit of the stomach intensified. I was transfixed by the electricity; I just couldn't stop staring at it. I feel a panic attack coming on.

I can't stay here.

"C-come on, let's go, t-that's enough." I pulled Kevin away from the door. I walked away from the room and took several deep breaths to calm myself. Why am I even panicking in the first place?

"Nate, you sure you're okay? You sound a little shaky. Maybe you should go lay back down."

"Yeah, that…that sounds like a good idea." I made my way back to my room. As I got further and further away from the illuminated room, I felt myself calming down.

What is with these random panic attacks?

We finally arrived at my room. Kevin took a seat on a nearby chair and I made my way to my bed, laid down, and closed my eyes.

It's amazing what one can go through in a lifetime.

I opened my eyes and stared up at the ceiling. I looked over to my left and nearly jumped out of my skin. A man with glowing blue eyes, wearing a white trench coat and trousers, metal attachments on his chest and right arm, and a hood on his head was standing in the corner.

"What the…"

"I see you two are still alive. I'm curious to see how you both turn out. Don't disappoint me." He spoke menacingly.

I sat up and rubbed my eyes. When I removed my hands, the man wasn't there anymore.

"Nate what's the matter?" Kevin asked, concern heavily lacing his voice.

"Nothing, nothing, I'm fine."

Seriously, I think this hospital has pumped more than just pain medication into my body.

**Leave me your thoughts =)**


	7. Chapter 7 - Subaquatic Euphoria

**Thanks for reading****! =)**

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Chapter 7: Subaquatic Euphoria

Kevin and I stayed in the hospital for another couple of days. But eventually, knowing us, we got bored. Very bored. It's an unfortunate but prideful truth; us Drakes simply cannot stay still. We have to be occupied with something, anything. It's just not in our nature to sit around and do nothing for a long period of time. We can't help it sometimes.

After washing up, we began to make our way out of the hospital. While walking down a hallway I couldn't help but overhear a hushed conversation between two men.

"I'm glad that freak is finally gone; he damn near, somehow, blew a fuse twice here. If we lost power in this hospital, this place would have been done for."

"Oh come on, it couldn't have been that bad."

"I've seen it for myself. He lifts his hand and everything running on power goes haywire. At one point, if I had been two steps closer, he would have torched my ass."

"You're exaggerating. Seriously? A man with _supernatural abilities_? Really now? Do you have any idea how absurd that sounds?

"You don't know man. I have a feeling that this world's changed somehow. I don't know how but it has. You better wake up and smell the coffee."

"Yeah sure, _I_ need to wake up."

Supernatural abilities? I'm not a stern, hardcore believer, I admit to being sort of a skeptic. But I do have some belief that some people can perform and possesses extraordinary abilities that others could never do. After leaving Yemen and returning home, I sat down alone with my thoughts. My thoughts circulated mainly about one man. Talbot. That man was something else. The way he did things was just unnatural to me somehow. The way he moved and talked just didn't seem real. He says that it was all through the power of a powerful hallucinogenic drug, and anything odd I saw, was because I was tripping balls. But maybe that's what he wanted me to believe? I don't know.

"Be careful out there you two. Try not to stay on the streets for too long. I'd hate to see you guys back here." A nurse instructed us.

Kevin and I opened the doors, uncertain of what we will encounter.

What else is new?

**~UC~IF~**

Crap, crap, crap.

Kevin and I were currently taking cover behind a line of parked cars while an intense shootout was going. It was between some cops and these…I don't know. It looked like these people (if I could call them that) were wearing trash bags; pretty much dressed in garbage. Best part? They don't even look human.

"Hey can any of you kids drive?" A cop took cover next to us.

Seriously, what is with cops calling younger people'kid'? I can understand why Sully does it, but it's endearing. But when random cops and strangers do it, it's just plain creepy.

"I can." Kevin spoke up.

"Take my car and get as far away as you can from here. This showdown has no end any time soon." The cop instructed, giving us his car keys. "My car is four cars down. Go! I'll cover you."

We moved as quickly as we possibly could. As we moved, I saw dozens of innocent pedestrians lying on the street. Some were dead, some almost dead, and some fighting to continue living. This isn't right. Someone should be looking out for these people; defend and fight for them.

"Here's his car, I'll get in first." Kevin unlocked the door on the passenger's side and made his way over to the driver's side. I got up and made my way into the passenger's seat and closed the door.

As I reached back to get my seatbelt, I witnessed the cop we ran encountered just a few moments earlier get shot between his eyes. The bullet went straight through his head; entered his forehead and exited in the back of his head.

God damn…

Just then, one of those trash bags wearing people appeared with a large gun. I know that gun very well.

A very powerful, very efficient, very deadly, guaranteed to turn you into Swiss cheese, machine gun.

And being in a car won't exactly keep us safe from that monster's path of destruction.

"Crap, Kevin we got to get the hell out of here."

"You don't have to tell me twice!" Kevin started the car and drove off, away from the massacre. I could hear the screams, the terrified screams of innocent pedestrians having their lives taken away from them.

It's just not right. It really isn't. No one deserves this. I just wish I could do something about it.

**~UC~IF~**

"And we're out of gas. Looks like we're hoofing it from here bro." Kevin stated. We both got out of the car, leaving it awkwardly in the middle of the street.

"The bridge to the Neon isn't too far from here luckily. We can walk across it." Kevin mused.

As we walked the street lights suddenly went off. The entire Warren went dark. There's ominous silence in the air.

"Oh shit. Dude, we have to find a way to get off the streets and get off the streets _now._"

"What why?"

"The Warren is a place you _do not _want to be in when it's dark. I've been here during blackouts and during the nighttime. And with those trash bags, whatever the hell they are on the streets…damn. We really need to get the hell out of here. Come on!"

Kevin ran off and I followed in pursuit. We reached the bridge after a few blocks. Huh…interesting looking bridge. Quite a steep incline there.

"Damn it! The bridge is raised, probably because of the blackout. If this one is out then that means the one leading the Historic District is out of commission too."

Trying to climb this thing would be suicide. Maybe…

"We could swim across." I spoke up

"What?"

"We could swim. The water doesn't seem too treacherous." Compared to what I've been through, this body of water is definitely tame.

"Well at this point, we're going to have to take it. Let's go."

We simultaneously dived into the water. Kevin went on where I decided to resurface to get air. I dived underwater and began to swim.

This actually feels…nice.

Usually when you're swimming underwater, there's always that invisible time limit hanging over head; that you have this much time left to get oxygen. That if you stay underwater too long you will die. But I'm not feeling that right now. I feel calm, relaxed, like I could be here forever.

I decided to dive further down until I reached the bottom. I reached out and touched the sand. It felt so soft and inviting, calling me to lie down and to just forget life for a while. Everything looked so bright and vivid. A few fish swam by as well. I lied down on the sand with my hands behind my head, just lounging, enjoying the underwater life. I closed my eyes reveling and the serenity of the environment. Everything's peaceful.

Wait, am I having another dream?

I pinched myself…doesn't seem like I'm dreaming.

Weird.

But I shouldn't let that bother me, I should only concern myself with enjoying myself down here. Besides if this is a dream, this would be the most pleasant dream I've ever had. It's a nice change from the horrifying and somewhat cryptic dreams I've been having lately. Might as well enjoy it while it lasts, because it very well could be my last.

_Nate! Are you down there?!_

Oh yeah, I'm supposed to be doing something right now. Swimming.

Us Drakes are known…you know what never mind.

I lifted myself up and began swimming. Hm, I seem to be swimming a lot faster too. Not bad...

I resurfaced and was reunited with the rest of the world.

"Nate! There you are! Man, I said the Warren was dangerous but you don't have to kill yourself!" Kevin joked.

I swam a short distance before reaching the shore.

"Sorry I got lost in the scenery."

"Yeah, there's a lot to see down there I'm sure."

"There is, don't knock it until you try it pal."

"I'll keep that in mind. Come on, my apartment is a few blocks from here."

We walked on, ignoring strange looks from some pedestrians that had witnessed everything that had just occurred.

As we walked, I couldn't help but look back at the large body of water and smile.

I never would have thought or believed that I would find a place that's more comfortable than my brother's heavenly sofa.

What a world.

**Leave me your thoughts please! =)**


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